Vancouver Housing July Sales The Highest Since 2009

Apartment buildings in the West End, at sunset, downtown Vancovuer, BC, Canada

The sun shone as brightly on Greater Vancouver's housing market as it did on the beaches in July as residential property sales saw their best returns of the year.

The market saw 2,946 homes change hands on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in July 2013, the most sales of any month this year and the best July since 2009, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) said in a news release.

July's housing sales increased 40.4 per cent over the same month last year and 11.5 per cent over June 2013. They also represented a 0.1 per cent increase over the 10-year average.

"Demand has strengthened in our market in the last few months, which can, in part, be attributed to pent-up demand from the slowdown in sales activity we saw at the end of last year," REBGV president Sandra Wyant said.

July also saw 4,854 new listings for detached, attached and apartment properties, a 1.1 per cent increase over the same month last year, and a 0.4 per cent decrease from last month.

There are currently 16,618 properties for sale on the MLS, down 8.1 per cent from July 2012 and 3.9 per cent fewer than last month.